Walmart buys major stake in Flipkart

United States retail giant Walmart Inc is acquiring Indian e-commerce player Flipkart, SoftBank Group chief executive Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday.

The deal was sealed on Tuesday night, he said, adding that its investment in the Indian online marketplace had almost doubled.

Flipkart was valued at $12 billion last year, according to researcher CB Insights.

To take on Amazon

The deal will help the Walmart - which has seen consumers migrating to online platforms like those run by Amazon - get a foothold in the world’s fastest growing economy with a market of 1.3 billion people. The Flipkart model would help the bricks-and-mortar retail giant to take on Amazon.

For Flipkart, the deal would give it additional capital and retail muscle to fight Amazon.

Together, Flipkart and Amazon control majority of India’s $30 billion e-commerce market that is forecast to grow to $200 billion by 2026 (Morgan Stanley estimate).